Underage Stripper Facebook Extortion Scam Reported In Wyoming

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office says a new Facebook/Instagram extortion scam is being reported that has victimized males between the ages of 11 and 70.

According to a post on the sheriff's office Facebook page, the scam begins with the victim being friended by a purported female college student, usually from a school in Texas or California.

The ''student" says they need to practice some kind of skill for a class and engages the victim in small talk, including personal questions about where the male lives and what they do for a living. After a while, the female tells the male she really likes him and would like to pose topless for him, either to thank him for helping her with her supposed class skill, or else just because she wants to.

The male is asked to take off his shirt and live chat with her, according to the post. In a live chat window, the female appears and starts taking off her clothes, asking the guy to do the same. Once the male removes all of his clothing and shows his private parts, the live chat ends with a thank you and a farewell.

Within a few minutes, the victim is contacted online by some supposed agency saying they have a video of the male nude (which they do) and will be sharing the video with the guy's contact's and co-workers. They also say the female was underage and threaten to report the incident to the police unless the victim sends them money via Western Union.

The first payment is usually somewhere between $200 and $500, but once that money is received they will demand continued payments totaling $5,500. But even when that amount is reached, the scammers will demand even more payments until the victim simply runs out of money.

Because Western Union does not track who picks up payments, once the money is wired it is gone forever. Prosecuting the scammers is made even harder by the fact that they often live in foreign countries.

The sheriff's office offers the following advice to people to protect themselves:

1) Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know (no matter how pretty they are).
2) Don’t send nude photos or appear nude in a live chat no matter who you think it is.
3) Don’t send any money to anyone on Western Union (rent scheme, craigslist scheme, many other schemes.)
4) If being extorted call the police and report it. Don’t send money or they will get every bit of money you have.
5) This applies for many social media applications.